The Myth of Fingerprints with Jonah Luke

A new Podcast exploring Music and the Stories behind it.

Hosted by Jonah Luke, this show brings interviews with musicians from all genres to talk about their music and their lives. Punctuated with a song or two from each artist, the podcast will be a great way to discover new sounds while understanding the story of each artist in the style of Humans of New York and StoryCorps.

St Paul de Vence may have a slightly hard-to-pronounce name, but they have a story that will grip you from the beginning. The band started as a project of frontman Ben Doerr, who used the story of his grandfather to create an EP that eventually created a band, a full length, and the attention of Seattle radio.

In our interview, Ben talks about his grandfather's story, how the band got its start, and life on Bainbridge Island. He talks songwriting, sailing, their newest album, and the future of the band.

Swear and Shake are an energetic, heartfelt indie rock/pop band that recently relocated from Brooklyn NY to Nashville. Fresh off a tour, I spoke with Kari Spieler (vocals and guitar) about how the band started, how they got their name, and why they moved to Nashville.

We also talked about the way technology has changed the music industry, including new opportunities with crowdfunding and social media. And we discussed why Kari became a musician, how she makes it work, and what she's listening to currently.

At the end of this episode we'll hear the single Fire, by Swear and Shake. Enjoy!

Today I’m excited to talk to one of the nine members of Turkuaz, a power funk band based in Brooklyn, NY. In our conversation, Dave Brandwein, singer and guitar player, tells us how the band got together and why he can’t imagine them with any fewer members.

They’ve been described as a cross between Sly & The Family Stone and Talking Heads, and are known for their upbeat, energetic live shows. Listen in for some good stories, like how they got their name, and what they’ll be up to after they visit Portland for the Waterfront Blues Fest this weekend.

At the end of this episode we'll listen to Gettin' a Little Closer, from their Stereochrome EP.

Today I’m excited to bring you my interview with three of the four members of Exit Ghost, an Americana tinged indie rock band from Chicago. I grew up next door to one of the band members, Dorian Gehring, and we also played in multiple bands together starting at a young age.

So what does Exit Ghost do? The band likes to take familiar sounds, ones we are comfortable with, and take them in a different direction, doing something new and making them interesting. Hear them talk about their songwriting process and what’s coming up for them this year.

Portland has this great festival every summer called the Waterfront Blues Fest. A few years ago, I was lucky enough to see Chubby Carrier perform there, and it was one of the must fun, entertaining, lively Zydeco performances I’d ever seen.

Chubby is a Grammy Award winning musician who works full time performing, recording, and running his own record company. In this interview we talk about the Waterfront Blues Fest, what music Chubby listens to, and the difference between Cajun and Zydeco music.

Tweedy is made up of Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco) and his son Spencer Tweedy on drums. In this episode, I talked with Spencer in Chicago about his upbringing around such a musical family, how the Tweedy project was born, what he’s listening to right now, and what’s next for the band and his own life.

This interview is with one of my favorite bands of all time, The Weepies. I started listening to The Weepies during college, when I listened to them nonstop and learned to play some of their songs.

What I love about Steve and Deb, the two musicians that make up The Weepies, is how honest and genuine they are, and you can definitely sense it in this interview. We’re mostly talking about Sirens, their album that dropped a couple of months ago, and how it blossomed out of a troubled time in their personal lives. But it’s not all about the album; We also talked about how they got together as a duo, about family, and what advice they want to pass on to future generations.

Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart are Homme, a Chicago-based band who experiment with sound. The band is new but Sima and Macie are fixtures in the Chicago music scene: you'll hear about their other projects, why they started Homme, and their plans for the band.

Jonah Luke

Jonah Luke and his band play uplifting folk/pop that warms the soul and brings out the sunshine. Based in Portland, Oregon, USA. Jonah Luke and Annie Jo perform as an acoustic folk duo. Jonah Luke is a singer, songwriter, and podcast producer.

A new Podcast exploring Music and the Stories behind it.

Hosted by Jonah Luke, this show brings interviews with musicians from all genres to talk about their music and their lives. Punctuated with a song or two from each artist, the podcast will be a great way to discover new sounds while understanding the story of each artist in the style of Humans of New York and StoryCorps.

Why the name? The Myth of Fingerprints is taken from a Paul Simon song off his Graceland album. It's also the name of a 1997 movie, but I haven't seen the movie and didn't know it existed until I made this podcast. I chose the name because Paul Simon's Graceland album is probably my favorite album of all time, and I want this podcast to explore all types of music in order to find commonalities and connections across genres and people.